


That October Mood

by pennysparrow



Category: DCU (Comics), Justice Society of America (Comics), Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (Comics)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Halloween, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, do not copy to another site, downtime, well kind of it starts out that way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 09:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26849515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: Courtney was not in a mood, thank you very much. She just needs to figure out why she's... whatever. And distractions are exactly what she needs to get rid of this not a mood.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	That October Mood

**Author's Note:**

> My third Halloweenish fic though I did miss a day. If you have any suggestions or just want to pop by and say hi I'm on tumblr at [thelittleredheadedmusician](https://thelittleredheadedmusician.tumblr.com/)!

Courtney wasn’t really in a _mood_ , despite what her mother might say. She was just… antsy. Sure. That’s why she hadn’t been able to sit still all day. Had bounced off the bus, grabbed her gear and headed towards the Brownstone. She’d maybe been a _bit_ surly to her mom and Pat on the way out. Definitely snapped at Mike. But he was her little brother, these things happened.

No, Courtney wasn’t in a mood because how could you be in a mood when you were flying at dazzling speeds across the country. Her curls whipped in the wind and the cosmic staff hummed under her. The weather was clear and clouds fluffy as she made her way to New York. She didn’t even get caught in the passing shower outside Cleveland. So, definitely not in a mood.

Landing on the roof, Courtney headed for the aviary and the elevator. It was a Friday afternoon, even two time zones ahead, so the place was bound to be filling up soon as members of the JSA came for their weekend meetings and trainings. She just had to find someone to talk to because despite the flight Courtney was still in her not mood. Which was getting worse as she waited for the elevator, the birds swooping overhead reminding her of the fact Kendra had left. Moved out and joined the League. And how Courtney missed her.

But it was fine, everything would be fine. She’d just find someone else or – and though she kicked herself for thinking this – there’d be some catastrophe and Courtney could expel this whatever it was with some punches and shooting stars. Except the halls were weirdly quiet. Almost eerily quiet. There was chatter from the lab as she passed and mention of Ted being down in the gym but that didn’t pique her interest. She headed for Jakeem’s room, only to see the door was still closed meaning he wasn’t here. Courtney grumbled and went in search of Maxine and remembered that she was at rehearsal until well after dinner. Pivoting, Courtney headed back for her own room and silently cursed Billy for having quit.

The not mood maybe be boiling into an actual mood. Which sucked.

Courtney threw herself on her bed, letting the staff bounce beside her and her backpack fall to the floor. She wasn’t going to wallow. If Courtney allowed herself to wallow then she really would be in a mood. She sat up and considered her options. There was clearly no point in disturbing the Brownstone’s other occupants but she needed to do _something_ otherwise Courtney might just burst.

A thought struck her and Courtney pulled her phone out of her bag. She could always call Jack. Since giving her the staff he’d wiped his hands of heroing but delighted in hearing her adventures. Though he usually hid it behind liberal amounts sarcasm and lots of “Ohmygod, kid you’re going to kill yourself”s. In her heart, Courtney knew he loved it. Except, calling Jack meant he’d also want to chatter and it’d probably be about his kids, who were adorable, but Courtney dealt with enough smelly diapers from her little sister and she didn’t really want to hear about them from Jack. He was just as likely to go on at her about potty training as about old records anymore. Loathe as she was to admit it, Courtney would much rather hear about the records. She actually liked swing music. A lot. Not that she’d tell anyone. She blamed all the forties holdouts she found herself surrounded by.

That was it. Courtney wasn’t going to lay here and stew or sour further. Nope. She was getting up and going to find something, _anything_ , to do. Hell, she’d even find Ma Hunkle and offer to clean the bathrooms at this point.

Leaving the staff and her phone on her bed, Courtney headed towards the kitchen. There was the distinct possibility that she was just getting hangry. Besides, eating was something to do. A wind sent her hair falling in front of her face and static electricity tingled down her spine. Jay must have just passed her. She kept walking, except Jay now stood before her.

Unlike Courtney, he wasn’t in uniform. Instead, worn jeans and a polo shirt that really sold his grandfatherly vibe. “Just the girl I was looking for,” he grinned. “Obsidian said you were here early; I’m hoping you might be able to help us out.”

Suddenly everything clicked. No wonder she felt out of sorts and no one was around, Courtney was early! Normally she had a football game to cheer at on a Friday night, except the other school’s coach was in the midst of a scandal and their season had been suspended. Meaning Blue Valley had no one to play against this week and so the game was cancelled. Which meant she missed hanging out with Mary at one of their houses or the diner downtown before getting ready. Courtney also missed the challenge that cheering provided: trusting in her squad to catch her instead of the staff, pushing her own strength and reflexes without the help of the belt as she tumbled and jumped. Pat was always on her about how important balance was, especially for superheroes, and she’d come to really rely on the games to just decompress and reset before the weekend. Be Courtney Whitmore, not Stargirl.

No wonder she was in a mood.

With this realization, Courtney felt the jitters and acid words building in the back of her throat begin to drain away. It was a slow process, but it was something.

Courtney grinned back at Jay. She could help, she definitely could help. “What’s up?”

“You are our resident teenager so Alan, Ma, and I were hoping to pick your brain. Some of the other kids are downstairs already too. You can get changed and I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” Jay said with another smile. Then he was gone.

Standing there Courtney couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the empty air. Jay had asked for her help, not Stargirl’s but Courtney’s. She was in fact going to go put on some jeans and a t-shirt before heading to the kitchen. Her mood was slipping away with each step.

In the kitchen, there was a group of people all clustered around the table. Ma Hunkle bringing a platter of snacks over when Courtney walked in. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about but she had a clear view of Grant and he looked like he was seriously considering getting up, walking to Titans Tower, and asking them to take him back. Though that wasn’t necessarily a bad sign since Grant normally looked like that. Especially with Rick and Jesse flirting at each other from either side of him.

Courtney took the empty chair next to Jay. “What’s up?” She glanced around the table and got the weird sense they’d been waiting for her because the side conversations stopped.

“Well,” Alan started, “the Brownstone always participates in trick-or-treat but we were thinking about doing something else for the teenagers and college kids this year too.”

“And I nixed the haunted house idea already,” Ma added as she slid the platter closer to Courtney. “There’s enough things that could go wrong with the stuff in that museum without the addition of jump-scares.”

Giggling around her carrot stick, Courtney shared a look with Jesse across the table.

“So,” Alan picked back up again, “we thought about hosting a movie night. We figured there was enough space and we certainly have large enough screens.” He smirked at a private joke. Courtney looked to Jay for some sort of explanation but he just seemed to shrug back at her.

“Is there a point to this?” Grant sighed. Though he did pick up a piece of pointedly passed celery.

“We hoped you might have ideas for some movies. Our list so far mainly consists of Hitchcock and _Ghostbusters_ ,” Jay broke in with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Grant’s eyes seemed to light up. “You mean like horror movies?”

“We’re open to suggestions,” Alan nodded.

“I’ll make a list,” Grant said excitedly. He was already pushing his chair back and heading for the drawer with the pens and notepads.

“ _Hocus Pocus_ is a classic,” Courtney offered. She wasn’t into horror like Grant obviously was, but she did like Halloween movies. “ _Corpse Bride_ and _Coraline_ and all those other stop animations are fun.”

“There was one I used to watch when I was a kid,” Rick drummed his fingers on the table. “This girl found out she was a witch-”

“ _Sabrina the Teenaged Witch_ is a show, not a movie,” Jesse interrupted.

Rick laughed. “No, not what I was thinking of. She found out she was a witch and snuck off with her siblings after their grandma to this other world.”

“ _Halloweentown_!” Courtney yelled excitedly. “Those are great! There’s four of them, though they changed the actress who played Marnie in the last one. The two _Twitches_ movies are other classic DCOMs.”

Grant brought back his list and laid it on the table. “Here. The _Goth_ movies are really great but the fact he turned out to be a literal demon and a supervillain kinda ruins them.”

Courtney screwed her face up at Grant in the same way she did whenever Mike said something incredibly stupid. Which in her opinion was a lot. “What?”

“Uh, the Titans files have it.” He scratched at the back of his head awkwardly as he sat down again.

“We could run an all-day marathon with these alone,” Jay said as he glanced at the list.

“Why not? A sort of come and go as you please?” Jesse suggested.

“Do some of the darker stuff later with the Disney and like _Beetlejuice_ in the afternoon,” Rick nodded.

“Run _Rocky Horror_ at midnight,” Jesse shared a grin with her husband.

“Oh!” Rick seemed positively thrilled by the idea. “And _Lost Boys_ right before. Great bad movie.”

“ _Lost Boys_?” Courtney turned her skeptical look on Rick.

Rick seemed scandalized. “Only the best vampire movie there is.”

Courtney gave him her most skeptical look.

“No no,” Grant shook his finger towards Rick, “he’s got a point about _Lost Boys_. Cult classic.”

While Courtney didn’t entirely believe this – _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ on the other hand sounded like a great idea – she did have to admit the guys’ enthusiasm was fun and infections. “I guess we’ll just have to watch it,” she smirked.

“That’s a great idea, Court,” Jay patted her back. “We could watch a bunch and pick our favorites to narrow it down.”

“Advertise it as the JSA’s favorites too. Be great for marketing,” Jesse nodded.

Ma shook her head, “We better get started then, there’s a lot to get through.”

“I’ll rally the troops then,” Jay was already gone.

Courtney took the initiative to make some popcorn. Her mood really had disappeared. Amazing what the prospect of a movie night did.

**Author's Note:**

> I really love Halloween movies? And Grant was way more fun as a Titan but his love of horror movies was kind of needed here.


End file.
